The Cobber football team won its last home game of the season Saturday
against Macalester, 18-6. Concordia is currently 4-3 in the MIAC
Conference and 4-4 overall.

"We played a good game," head coach Jim
Christopherson said. "We were a little disappointed that we bogged
down in the red zone. When we had opportunities for touchdowns we
settled for field goals. We could have put Macalester into deep trouble
early, and we kind of let them hang in there."

Concordia's offense came alive as the Cobber running game accounted
for 183 yards rushing against Macalester. Concordia's defense was strong
giving up only 49 rushing yards to Macalester's offense.

Concordia's running game came and went as the game wore on. Concordia
didn't have much luck running the ball up the middle. However, when they
ran to the sidelines they gained a lot of yards.

"They play a seven man front and when you pack seven people in there
it's harder to run up the middle," Christopherson said. "We were successful
when we ran the option and the toss sweep to [sophomore] Marcus
Ludtke." The Cobbers struck first when senior wide receiver Chris
Howell scored on a two-yard pass from Pole
to put Concordia up 7-0 in the first quarter. In the second quarter Concordia
widened their lead as junior kicker Clayton
Horgen hit two field goals from 35 and 26 yards out to give Concordia
a 13-10 lead.

In the third quarter Horgen added another field goal to increase the
lead to 16-0.

It looked like the Cobbers might shutout Macalester until they
scored with just over six and a half minutes left in the game.

However, luck returned to the Cobbers when junior middle linebacker
Travis Boyd intercepted the pass from
Macalester and returned a point-after-attempt back for the Cobbers.

Concordia received two points for the PAT return to put them up 18-6.
Macalester also had to kick off to the Cobbers after the PAT return.
However, Concordia wasn't able to get anything going on offense so Macalester
got the ball back with just over four and a half minutes left.
Macalester's dive got down to Concordia's 25-yard line before Macalester's
Matt Dieditker fumbled the ball, and senior defensive end Ryan
Albrecht recovered the ball and ended any chance of a Macalester comeback.
The Cobbers had another reason to celebrate besides winning the game. Concordia's
senior quarterback Ethan Pole has broken
several records this year. Pole is currently first in passing touchdowns
with 39 and first in career passing yards with 4,588 yards and is also
first in career completions with 333.

Pole is second in the category of most yards passing per game with 158.2
yards and is also in second for career total yards with 5,052 yards.
Pole currently is fourth in career completion percentage with 54.2 percent
passing.

"He has a lot of experience now because he has started since early in
his sophomore year," Christopherson said. "He is also a pretty allusive
quarterback. He can run the option well and if a receiver is covered he
can run for the first down. He is a gifted athlete in a lot of areas."

The volleyball team lost to Moorhead State University Tuesday night
in three matches 13-15, 3-15 and 12-15.

"We played really well at times," head coach Tim
Mosser said. "I think what happened was we went out hard and then we
started relaxing. ... We got too cautious and not aggressive. We quit dictating
the pace of the game."

In the first match, Concordia went up 8-0 before Moorhead State University
scored their first point of the game. Concordia lead 11-2 before the tides
turned and MSU came back and took the lead 11-13. Then the Cobbers
came back to get one closing the gap to 12-13. However, MSU scored the
next two points to come back and win the first match.

"We make every play a separate entity in itself," Mosser said.
"We say okay we are going to go hard on this play and then stop and regroup
for the next play."

In the second match, MSU, drawing energy off of their win in the first
match, came out to a 6-0 lead before Concordia answered back. Concordia
scored one to pull within five. However, MSU continued to fight back and
scored the next five points to put them ahead 11-1. Concordia lost the
second match 15-3.

"We weren't real constant," Mosser said. "But at times we served really
well, and passed and hit very well. What hurt us are errors. We weren't
aggressive enough."

In the third match, the Cobbers led 2-0 before MSU tied it at two apiece.
Concordia once again took the lead 4-2. However, like a see-saw MSU tipped
the balance again and tied the match at 4-4. MSU took over and scored the
next four points to put them up 4-8. Concordia battled back and took the
lead again at 13-12. After a side out MSU battled Concordia for the last
two points of the match winning 15-12.

The team got some good play from their bench despite the loss.
"Erika Simons had done a good job serving,"
Mosser said. "Erika focuses on her serve. She has good placement and can
place the ball anywhere on the court."

In earlier action the Cobber volleyball team split four matches at the
UW-River Falls tournament Friday and Saturday. Seniors Laura
Reitmeier and Meredith Hegg were
named to the all-tourney team at River Falls. "Meredith has really taken
charge and really has been a leader and has come forth to direct us." Mosser
said.

The Concordia men's soccer team won its last game of the season against
St. Thomas, 5-1. The Cobbers finished the season 3-7 in the MIAC Conference
and 8-10 overall.

Junior Eric Singer scored within the
first two minutes of play to put the Cobbers up 1-0. Freshman Chance
Buzzell scored within two minutes of Singer to give Concordia a 2-0
lead.

St. Thomas did battle back, scoring one to tighten Concordia's lead
to 2-1. However, with just over three minutes left before break, junior
Micah
Benson scored to put Concordia up 3-1.

In the second half Concordia dominated, scoring two goals both from
Todd Stebelton to put the game out of
reach for St. Thomas.

In earlier action, the Concordia men's soccer team fell in their last
home game of the season 3-1 to Carleton Saturday.

"They finished their chances, and we didn't," head coach Jim
Cella said. "They put theirs in and, we didn't and that's the bottom
line."

Cella explained that the team has had their chances to win this year
against MIAC teams but were unable to.

"We have had seven MIAC losses and in all seven of those games we have
been tied at halftime," Cella said. "In the second half we lost it."

"We have been playing not to lose instead of playing to win," Cella
said. "When you play to win you are out there and you are going to do whatever
it takes. When you play not to lose, you play it safe and conservative
so the other team doesn't put the ball in the net."

However, Cella added, playing not to lose is a two-edged sword.
At the same time the team is playing it safe, they are not doing anything
creative and not putting enough pressure on the other team, giving the
opposing team chances to score.

Cella said part of the reason for the team's lack of consistency is
his need to shuffle the team around due to injuries.

The Concordia women's soccer team finished their season losing to St.
Thomas 3-2 on Saturday. The Cobbers finished 3-7 in the MIAC conference
and 7-11 overall.

After Concordia's defense let St. Thomas get ahead 2-0 the Cobbers came
back with a goal of their own late in the first half. Sophomore Jordi
Kortan scored to close the gap to one goal at the break.

"I thought we started the game strong," head coach Dean
Hashbarger said. "At half time I just told them that it was their last
game and to make sure when they come off the field their gas tank is empty."

In the second half Concordia's freshman Jessica
Spaulding tied the game with her goal at 2-2 with just over twenty-two
minutes remaining giving the Cobber fans hope of pulling off an upset.

However, with just over 20 seconds remaining in the game St. Thomas'
Katie Dolan put the nail in the coffin of the Cobbers, erasing any hope
of an upset as St. Thomas won 3-2.

"You look at our record, and we are disappointed," Hashbarger said.
"We have some good talent on our team, and I think next year they are going
to show it and that's exciting."

The men's cross country running team finished sixth at the MIAC Championship
Saturday. Concordia finished with 181 points and an average time of 27:28:5.

"I think they did pretty well," head coach Garrick
Larson said. "Our goal was fifth place, and we were only 13 points
off. The fifth through ninth place teams were really close. If one runner
had a better or worse day on any of those teams it could have changed the
whole standings." Larson thought there were several things that the
team did to help them in their standings.

According to Larson, one thing that the team has improved on is their
running tactics. One example Larson described is cresting the hill. When
the runner is almost at the top of the hill they put in a little
surge of energy because everyone else is usually a little tired at that
spot. The other thing that the men are doing well, according to Larson,
is looking ahead to see which flags on the course are coming up.
When the flags tell them to go straight, they can look ahead to the next
flag and see the best way to get to that flag.

"When we talked about the race beforehand I talked about the dotted
line," Larson said. "The dotted line represents their bionic threshold.
With the course's big hills I told them I thought it would be a good idea
to be a little under that threshold going into the first hill. Then on
the second time around go for broke."

"The top teams in our region are extremely talented," Larson said.
"To finish in the top ten in our region is a very big thing, and we have
an outside chance of doing that this year. I think if Steve [Edlund,
sophomore] runs a better race and some of are other guys step it up just
a little bit more that we have an opportunity to break into that top ten
in our region."

The Cobber women's cross country running team finished third at the
MIAC Championship Saturday with 109 points and an average time of 18:54.9.

Concordia's team time was 1:34.34.4. St. Olaf and Macalester finished
in first and second place respectfully.

According to Espeland, the team has
been running well this year, and they have had challenging meets.

"Saturday's performance was incredible," Espeland said. "Eighteen
of the 21 runners ran their season's best times, and many of them are career
best times."

Sophomore Heidi Brendon finished in
fourth place and was named All-MIAC. Brendon's sister Heather
finished second for the team and 16th overall with a time of 18:42.3.

According to Espeland the team as a whole worked well together. Cross-country
is often viewed as an individual sport, but there is a significant team
component in practice and meets.

"Heidi and Heather are perfect examples of this," Espeland said. "It
is fun to watch them run stride for stride. They respond well to each other.
"Senior Barb Breidenbach finished third
for the team and 19th overall with a time of 18:52.7.

The team, after finishing third, is looking ahead to the regional meet
on Nov. 14th.